William Herschel discovered NGC 3954 = H III-381 = h1013 on 26 Apr 1785 (sweep 402) and noted "vF, R." His re-reduced position is 10 sec of RA following UGC 6866. Caroline made a 2° 25' error in reducing the declination, so John Herschel assumed h1013 was new. His position is just 40" southeast of center. Hermann Kobold measured an accurate position in 1891 at the Stasbourg Observatory (published in 1907).

400/500mm - 17.5" (4/7/89): fairly faint, very small, round, small bright core, faint stellar nucleus. Forms the northern vertex of an isosceles triangle with a mag 10 star 4.4' SSE and a mag 11 star 4.2' SSW. Member of the NGC 3937 group with NGC 3947 10' SW.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb